Effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System in Jamaica as evidenced by levels of crime in Jamaica
Topic: Lack of Certainty and Celerity in the Criminal Justice System accounts for the high level of crimes committed. Dependent Variable: Crime Level Independent Variable: Criminal Justice System Operationalization Celerity. Celerity for this study refers to the swiftness with which criminal sanctions are applied after the commission of a crime. ... Certainty refers to the probability of apprehension and punishment for a crime. Crime Levels. Crime levels in this study refer to the statistics on the levels of reported crime in the country as reported by agencies such as STATIN. Criminal Justice System Criminal Justice System in this study refers to Elaboration of central thesis. The idea is that the levels of crime are high not only as a result of economic stress and other such factors but also as a result of lack of certainty and celerity in the Criminal Justice System. This fosters opinions and impressions of the manipulation of the Criminal Justice System. These beliefs decrease the threat of punishment for illegal activity produced by the Criminal Justice System. ... It can be argued though that criminals are victims of such factors as racism, poverty, alienation, strain and their crime is an expression of their frustration. ... The Criminal Justice System serves to control the “have not’s”. It serves to secure the power of the affluent and judges those before it by two standards of justice. ... Those attorneys who find their way to the bar in the criminal courts are usually from less prestigious law schools, have less training, and come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds (Ladinsky, 1984). Greg Barak (1980) goes so far as to argue that corporate law as an institutionalized specialty acted to erode the quality of criminal defense attorneys, insuring that criminal lawyers are primarily those of poorer quality, experience, and training. ... Those high-quality attorneys who choose to practice criminal law find themselves with heavy caseloads that make impossible quality case preparation for all but the elite of the profession. ... Burnout among criminal lawyers is the rule, and it occurs early in their careers. Another route for practicing criminal law is to join the district attorneys office as a prosecutor. ... Their priorities are clearly to avoid offending people in the system and to get through the public defender experience without incurring any black marks against their future acceptance into the upper strata of the practice of law (Platt and Pollack, 1975). ... The indications show that the system is not working well. It fails to adequately protect society from crime. It fails to reduce crime or deter criminals. It fails to treat all of the accused with equal justice. ... The Criminal Justice System does not take into account the economic system and this is understandable. ... However, it is a shared opinion the lady justice is not blind. ... However, other crimes like white-collar crime are seen as being dealt dealt with differently. ... There is also the fact that increased reporting and publicizing of violent crime while other crimes may be dealt with privately, totally avoiding publicity, trial, and conviction. People do not think justice is fair and swift and thus are not constrained by it. ... " The winners decide who is in violation of the law--that is, who is criminal. ... " The most frequent manifestation of criminal justice is repression. "Our criminal justice system includes an aspect that is oppressive. Criminal justice is, literally, state power. ... The poor, underemployed and unemployed and undereducated who make up the majority of criminal justice system clients find themselves in a legal system populated by people very unlike themselves, with little understanding of their backgrounds, their lives, or their needs. ... This brings us to one additional definition of justice: justification. The reality of the legal system is not innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt before a jury of peers. The reality is that who you are, where you live, whom you know, and the assets you have to defend yourself determine what kind of justice you will receive.